The Magic of Story
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Lebanon (PA) Family Literacy Festival- April 24, 2010 The Education Department of the Lebanon Campus of Harrisburg Community College, with the Lebanon Community Library System and other community organizations, ran the first Family Literacy Festival, organized by Barbara Takarz. The day featured presentatons by authors, illustrators, literacy coaches, and storytellers, along with booksignings, face painting, craft sessions, puppet shows, music, and writing contest awards. |
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| It's great fun to meet fans and sign books for them. |
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Author Kerry Royer and I were visited in the autographing area in the Lebanon Community Library by two larger-than-life book characters. |
| Kennesaw State University Annual
Conference on Literature for Children and Young Adults March 30, 31, 2010 Kennesaw, GA |
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| I gave one of the keynote presentations at the conference. |
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Jacqueline Woodson and I share and swap our books while Dr. Alice Snyder, Conference Coordinator, looks on. |
| Conference attendees waiting to have their books autographed after my presentation. |
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Besides speaking at the Conference, I also did an author visit presentation at Big Shanty Elementary School, Cobbs County, GA. Here, a student catches the "chicken pox". |
| A group hug. Nothing like enthusiastic readers. |
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Attending the author visit presentation were Barb Schager, Media Specialist, who coordinated the school event, and Dr. Debra Coffee, a professor at Kennesaw. |
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February found us in the South Pacific, sailing around Tahiti and the Society Islands with the MIT Alumni Travel Program.
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We stopped off at the Taha'a Island School where I shared The Teeny Tiny Ghost with the elementary students. The book has been translated into French, and I had brought my copy of Le tout petit fantome to share with the children and to present to the school. Our guide quickly translated as I read the English version. |
| Kids here and all over the world respond in much the same way when getting their picture taken. Notice the horns that pop up on the back of some of their heads. |
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Book Signing at the Smithsonian's National Museum of
American History I was invited by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, to sign Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books and Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak as part of their Holiday Festival. Although it was a snowy, blustery day, the Museum was crowded. The families who came were very enthusiastic and obviously loved history and books. What a pleasure to be there! The museum staff was very welcoming and helpful. Afterward, we went to Ford's Theater, where I signed their stock of Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books. |
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It was a wonderful day and I felt honored to be
invited. The Museum's Lincoln exhibit was currently running in celebration of his 200th birthday. And Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books has a universal message. |
| Although the weather was a nasty mix of snow and rain, the Museum was thronged with visitors. |
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At the Smithsonian, history is a family affair. |
| What would it be like to wear whisper sticks for misbehaving? You will find these in Larry Day's illustration of the dame school in Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak. |
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A small scout who. like Lincoln, loves books. |
The Carol Otis Hurst Book Prize
In September of '09, I was awarded the Carol Otis Hurst
Book Prize for Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak,
illustrated by Larry Day and published by Dutton Children's
Books. In the letter announcing the award, Ralph Melnick,
Assistant Director of the Westfield (Massachusetts) Athenaeum which is
composed of the Milton Burrall Whitney Library, the Jasper
Rand Art Museum and the Edwin Smith Historical Museum,
stated, "It is with great pleasure that I wish to inform you
that your wonderful treatment of the American Revolution,
Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak has been selected as
the recipient of the Carol Otis Hurst Children's Book Prize.
There were many excellent entries, but the selection
committee felt that your work best fulfilled the mission of
the prize, to celebrate the best in children's writing about
the New England experience".
The cash prize was given to me on September 26th at the
annual Westfield Colonial Harvest Day.
The Westfield Theater
Group did a readers theater presentation of Colonial
Voices: Hear Them Speak,
which I narrated in the
Performance Tent.
After the dramatic readi
ng I signed copies of Colonial
Voices: Hear Them Speak, in front of the library, which
was a prime spot for hearing the Town Crier Contest, seeing
the Horse Drawn Wagon,
hearing the Colchester Fife and Drum Corps and watching the
children from Abner Gibbs Elementary School do a colonial
dance.
A Return To Westfield!
Maggie Adams, Principal of the
Abner Gibbs
Elementary School, wrote and was awarded a grant to obtain the
funding for two author visits.
At Abner Gibbs, tall children and small children
share the limelight by saying their lines with gusto while
performing in the Poetry Troupe.
What a pleasure to present at the Franklin Avenue School! The children were so well prepared that every time a familiar book cover came on the screen, they clapped and cheered. At at the end of the slide program, they asked insightful questions.
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Our Family |
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Linda, Oliver(10), Nelson(7), and Jason |
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